It is time, once again, to marvel at the work being released by Invisible Records, Topsham’s little jazz label that could. Though we may only get a record or two per year dribbling out of Maine’s jazz epicenter, each release is a treat worth savoring.
With The Garden Above , the record-buying public is formally introduced to David Wells, a tenor saxophonist who moved here from London in 2002, with a resume populated with names like Rosemary Clooney, Joe Henderson, and Jerry Bergonzi. He’s been playing with guitarist Tony Gaboury and drummer Steve Grover in a trio as of late, often at the now-departed wine joint Meritage, which used to reside across from the now-departed Public Market and is now Slainte. This disc is testament to what people were missing down on Preble Street.
Grover is the pro’s pro, having supported nearly every jazz musician in Maine at some point, including the late Lenny Breau, and a writer of some renown in his own right, having most recently released Breath in 2003. Gaboury is a Berklee prof who released his own Empathy on Invisible in 1999. Together they mostly support Wells, whose name is listed first on the CD cover, but have no difficulty carving plenty of space for making themselves heard.
“Rise and Shine,” written by Wells, comes charging out of the gate like Dixieland, with Wells’s tenor sax and Gaboury’s guitar in sync on an up-beat riff while Grover rides his high hat. It gets pretty different quickly, though, as Wells continues with the charging sax, but Gaboury starts picking out a somber and sedate anti-melody that’s only in the right channel. It’s like the ghost of a cry-in-your-beer tune haunting a hard-charging number. Then the sax falls away completely and we’re left with just the guitar over Grover’s nearly manic, but light as air, cymbals. The guitar picks up, but Gaboury’s tone is like a mist in the early morning, hard to grasp and everywhere. Finally, the guitar leaves, too, with just Grover’s drums left to fill the melody before the sax and guitar start everything all over again.
Like any good disc, every song on this album provides serious food for thought.
Cole Porter’s “Do I Love You” features Wells’s sax, taking the familiar lead, pristine in its delivery, but when it’s Gaboury’s turn, he sprawls way beyond the bounds of the melody, veering off wherever he might wish to go, only sprinkling in hints that let you know he hasn’t forgotten the listener. Charlie Parker’s “Big Foot” revisits Gaboury’s sinister argument with Wells’s bouncy joy. In the title track, the melody line is so lyrically delivered you can almost hear a spoken word piece in the deep background.
Sonny Rollins’s four-part “Freedom Suite” even gets a fairly acid take, but that’s mostly just this trio proving they’ve got sense of adventure, and it’s that quality that makes this disc stand up to many repeated listens. You find something new every time.
The Garden Above
Released by David Wells, Tony Gaboury, and Steve Grover | at First Universalist Church, in Yarmouth | Oct 28 | 207.712.7360 | www.stevegrover.com | www.invisiblemusicrecords.com
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Sam Pfeifle: sam_pfeifle@yahoo.com
